HBO Sinks Teeth Into Vampire Tale

Had a chance to talk to Alan Ball (“Six Feet Under”; “American Beauty”) on the phone recently about his new vampire drama, “True Blood,” which comes to HBO this weekend.

It’s an adpatation of Charlaine Harris’ mystery novels about vampires and humans in backwoods Bon Temps, La. The show imagines a world where vampires can coexist with humans, thanks to the development of
a synthetic blood substitute that theoretically allows the fanged creatures to get by without snacking on human flesh. Still, there are a lot of humans who distrust and fear the vamps, who find themselves battling for equal rights in society.

Interestingly enough, Ball is no vampire “fantatic.” He has never seen an episode of “Buffy.” He has never read a book by Anne Rice. And so he brings a fresh approach to the genre, eschewing much of the mythiology that has come before and introducing new elements. Regarding the latter, “True Blood”‘s vampires have a really cool thing going on with their fangs, which re-tract like rattlesnakes.

But will viewers crave “True Blood”? HBO desperately needs a big-buzz hit and it’s difficult to tell if this will be it. “True Blood” is certainly offbeat and compelling, but it’s also excessively gruesome and violent at times. Ball calls it the “rowdiest” piece of entertainment he has ever done.